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Cassie tried to not stare at the clock on the wall, but she had less than an hour until she had promised Angela and the kids she would be home. Angela had started a month ago, and was a godsend. Mrs. Tokarski had been very happy to finally be on her way home when they had delivered her to the airport two Saturdays ago. Everything was settling down again, and the kids having been in school a couple months the routine at home was a lot less tears and a lot more happy stories of the day.
She was trying to focus on the conference call, but the current information was having to do with the Houston office building and not her complex so she found herself tuning out. She looked over at Quinten, and he made a duck bill quacking hand signal which would have made her want to chuckle out loud if they hadn’t been on speaker. Instead she grinned and shook her head.
Their project was coming along fabulously and all reports had them catching up to the original timeline by mid-November, making the client very happy. She tried to refocus on the call, but her thoughts kept returning to the kids and their costumes. Halloween was one of her favorite holidays and pretty much second only to Christmas for the little people in her life. This year Trent had volunteered to help shepherd them around a “great neighborhood” he had traipsed every year during his trick or treating days. Best candy to home ratio he had told her with a cheeky grin.
The last four weeks since their campfire first date had flown by. They saw each other when he dropped the boys off after practice, and most times he would come in for dinner and conversation. They had managed three additional all-alone dates and several outings with the kids in that amount of time. Their dates were simple and mostly about spending time together. They had gone bowling on their second date, which she had planned. Beating Trent badly at the game had been a bonus second only to his company for the evening. Then a trip to the county fair, something she had always wanted to do as a kid and not had the opportunity. Finally, last Saturday they had dinner at a Mexican place he loved. Things were almost near perfect with him around. He liked to lend a hand, and they got along great. She tried not to think about the six week deadline looming on the horizon. It had been information he had offered before they began dating; that no woman ever interested him past the six-week timeline. She couldn’t give a definitive answer yet on where they were going, but she wasn’t ready for it to end.
“Cassie vill dat vork for you,” Mr. Bachhuber said in his strong accent.
She looked up at Quentin, who shook his head to the positive.
“Yes, that works,” she said shrugging silently at Quentin and grinning.
“Okay, ve talk next veek.”
“Will do. Thanks,” she said reaching out to push the button to disconnect the call.
“You have zero idea what he said to you!” Quentin pinned her with a wicked look.
“None, I zoned out.”
“Thinking about my brother?” he teased.
“I have other things on my plate,” she attempted to deflect.
“Such as six kids and Halloween?”
“Yes, such as that. Are you and Emily bringing Dante out with us tonight?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world. And all Bachhuber asked was if this same time would work next week for our update call.”
“Oh. Good.” She picked up her phone and tapped the calendar icon and scrolling to the date in question. “Works for me. Thank goodness, since I have already committed to it.” She made a new appointment entry and closed the application.
“Time’s good for me, too,” Quinten said.
Pushing back she rose, “Well I have to run. With traffic I’ll be lucky if I make it in time. Did Trent have appointments out today? I didn’t see his truck when I came in.”
“He said he had an errand and then was headed to your house.”
“Okay, see you.”
“Hey, Cassie?”
She turned noting the odd expression on Quentin’s face, “What’s up?”
“How serious is whatever you have with my brother?”
“Serious?”
“Yeah, like do you hear wedding bells...” he let the statement hang.
“No wedding bells but I like him, he’s fun and easy to be around. Why?”
“I just really like you, and...well if something would get serious and then not last I hope that doesn’t’ change...this,” he waved his hand back and forth between them.
“Quentin I know your brother has a horrible track record with women, and he told me from the get go that he doesn’t want to be married or have children. So I think our situation is what it will be. I love having him around for my kids, and I like hanging out with him...and I’m okay with that. We both have lots of baggage. Sometimes you take what you can get. It’s more than you had before.”
“Wow. He’s really lucky to have found someone like you.”
“Thanks, I really have to go.”
“Go. We’ll see you in an hour or so.”
She smiled at him and turned to exit. She really did feel lucky to have had this time with Trent, and even it should end she figured they would remain amicable. He didn’t hold grudges, and he was so good with all of the kids. If this was as good as it got, she was blessed just to have him in her life.
But the devil on her shoulder whispered in her ear. If he made it past six weeks and stuck around, maybe it could be so much more. She had never believed in fairy tales or even in daydreams before, so she refused to start now she thought angrily tossing the thought aside.
***
Trent was holding Harper’s hand and walking next to Wyatt and Quentin who formed a line bringing up the back of the Halloween clad procession. Harper was the odd child out, being the oldest girl of the group by four years and seemed happy to tag along as an observer. Her quiet sweet nature had won a special place in Trent’s heart and the mutual admiration was evident as she found reasons to stay near him whenever he was around these days. Tonight it had choked him up when she had silently reached for his hand and beamed up at him with her shy smile.
Just ahead of them Alex, Will, Dante and Isiah were swatting foam swords and swapping stories about pirates. Each of them had selected pirate costumes during the joint outing two weeks back. Emily and Cassie were wrangling Becca, Beatriz, Bridgette, and Sachie. Monica was now two days overdue and had not been able to comprehend making the Halloween rounds with ankles she claimed were the size of pumpkins.
“So who picked out your costume?” Quentin asked Wyatt solemnly.
“Monica, but I’m not sure if she was mad at me or just so pregnant as she grabbed the first one she found.”
“You do know you are a giant tube of toothpaste correct?” Trent said unsuccessfully holding back a chuckle.
“Laugh if you must. She said it was the only thing in my size,” Wyatt said sourly. Like a good husband he hadn’t wanted to upset his very pregnant spouse. “Besides what are you supposed to be, some kind of king?”
“Prince Charming, if you must know. The younger girls picked it out.”
“You allowed girls aged five and two to pick out your costume?”
“They said we could match, and they were so cute.” He grinned, remembering Beatriz and Bridgette picking out Cinderella and Bell costumes. And then Sachie grabbing and hugging the little Ariel costume when Cassie had held it out. He looked to where Cassie sashayed in her Jasmine costume. He tried really hard not to let his eyes linger on the patch of skin between the bedazzled top and those crazy Genie pants. She was pretty cute he thought. But continued thoughts about her butt, made him think of some very grown up activities that still remained off the table between the two of them. And with a firm shake he brought himself back to the G-rated conversation.
“So your family looks like Disney threw up on it, with the Pirates thrown in and sweet Tinkerbell to your left. And I’m a giant tube of personal care product.”
“Okay stop grousing both of you, I’m dressed like a doctor. I think my wife is trying to tell me something about my chosen construction career.”
Wyatt and Trent laughed at Quentin.
“How is Monica?” Trent asked Wyatt, changing the tone of the conversation.
“Miserable. Doctor said he thinks any day, but she is now a couple days past her due date. So I make her as comfortable as possible, and I’ve been trying to be home to take care of the other two after school. Thank you both for helping this past week at work, by the way.”
“It’s nothing man, I’m gonna need the favor returned shortly,” Quentin said empathetically.
“When Emily gets to that stage, I’m there for you,” Wyatt said.
“So what about you and Cassie?” Wyatt turned to Trent.
“What about us?” he tried to keep the edge out of his voice.
“You’re getting close to that magic six week number, but I think more than one person would be heartbroken should this not be the record breaker.” Wyatt nodded down at Harper who was still holding his brother’s hand as she took in all the activity going on around them.
“We’re fine,” he said trying to keep his tone soft so Harper would not clue in to what was going on above her.
“You two are awesome together,” Quentin affirmed.
Before Trent had a chance to figure out how to respond, Harper curved her head around him to zero in on Quentin and Wyatt.
“Trent is going to be my dad. He is going to marry my mom,” she stated matter-of-factly at the top of her lungs. Apparently they hadn’t done such a good job keeping the subject quiet. Harper was quiet by nature, but apparently when she did decide to make a big announcement she went all out. The sudden, dead silence of the entire group was deafening.
“Honey,” Cassie said moving toward Harper and dropping down in front of her. “We’ve talked about this, and tried to explain this to you. I’m not going to marry Trent, he is a friend and you already had a dad. Remember?”
“I want Trent to be our dad,” Alex chimed in, appearing suddenly next to her. “Our dad died, so he won’t care.”
Harper was not about to be put off her quest. “That day at the store when I saw the girl and boy kissing in the aisle by the cereal, you told me only people who are getting married kiss that way. You said that I had to wait until I was old like you to kiss boys.”
Even in the evening shadows, Trent could see the color rising up Cassie’s cheeks.
“Sweetie, can we please talk about this at home?”
“But we saw you kissing Trent the other night. By his truck when you didn’t think we saw, just like that boy and girl in the store. So you have to marry him,” Harper said quietly, her chin quivering and big tears filling her eyes.
And there was the simplest logic Trent had ever experienced first-hand. The overwhelming, chest clutching feeling impacting the beat of his heart was new. He didn’t have the faintest idea how to diffuse the logic of this tiny girl, and he didn’t want to say the wrong thing. Looking at his brother he saw Quentin avert his eyes, and Wyatt shake his head just a bobble.
“Sweetie...” he heard Cassie try again and he couldn’t help himself. He interrupted her crouching down in front of Harper, next to Cassie.
“Harper, you are so right. When big boys and girls kiss most of the time they get married, but sometimes after kissing they find out it was yucky and decide not to get married. So what about if you let me and your mom spend time with you, your sisters and your brothers and see if we like kissing each other and want to be married forever,” he emphasized the last word. “I’m so glad you want me for your dad honey, and I think it would be the best thing to ever happen to me. But you need to give your mom and me time to make sure we all work together like we should. Can you guys do that?” he asked, this time including the other kids that had gathered.
“When you decide will you let me know first?” she said popping her little lip out.
“It’s a deal,” he wrapped his arms around her. As those little vice grips returned the hug, he could feel it to his soul. He realized not for the first time everything riding on this decision, and how badly he had miscalculated.
“Hey, guys we are at the next house,” Emily said distracting them with promises of more candy. “Harper, come on over here and help me keep an eye on your sisters.”
Harper skipped over to her, secure in the knowledge that she would be the first to hear their decision.
“Thank you,” Cassie whispered to him as they stood back up.
“You okay?” He slipped his arm around her.
“Yeah,” she said moving away from him and walking over to stand with Emily.
“Well, this is different for you,” Quentin said clapping him on the back.
“Six kids...you ready to be a daddy six times over?” Wyatt asked from his other side.
He didn’t know. The problem was his brain kept screaming six kids, but his heart refused to recognize the problem, urging him into jumping in with both feet. And for the first time ever he knew indecision on the dating front. Logic told him that he was approaching his six week limit, and silently he cursed that voice but was ready yet to acknowledge the other that knew this was not a situation that would remain tenable for long.
